The Myth Of Equality In American Society Politics Essay

The Myth Of Equality In American Society Politics Essay The American society is viewed by the global community as the nation of freedom, as the country in which any person is able to experience the greatest degree of equality. Indeed, the United States of America is undoubtedly the most diverse nation in the world with people representing different cultures and ethnicities. The Constitution of the United States guarantee equal protection of all citizens and prohibits discrimination based on gender, age, physical characteristics, or any other factors which make one person different to the others. However, it should be recognized that the American society does not function as the nation of equals as discrimination, stereotyping, and prejudices are still widespread. The American children are taught at schools that the United States of America was founded with the idea that all people are considered equal (Jeynes and Martinez 195). The history books suggest that the founding fathers did not apply this idea to the African American slaves in the South; however, the ratification of the Constitution was the first step to bring the principle of equality into law. Even though the American government grants equal rights and equal protections to all citizens, it would be wrong to state with confidence that the American society is the nation of equals. Jeynes and Martinez emphasize that as long as Darwinism evolution remains the sole teaching about mans origins that children are exposed to in the public schools, racism will be highly institutionalized in the way children are instructed (196). Even though this argument deals mostly with religious aspects of the human evolution, Jeynes and Martinez describe the current situation in American society very clear. Even today, many people are strongly convinced that the Whites are superior to African Americans in their intellectual abilities while African Americans are superior to Whites in terms of physical development and athletic skills. It is possible to assume that African Americans, for example, are more skilful in sports due to their physical characteristics; however, this difference should not become the benchmark for dividing society in groups. Due to the social stratification and the segmentation of the nation into different groups, the concept of equality is present on the paper only. Every person has a number of groups he or she belongs to. For example, a teenager may belong to the African American group by his race, basketball team by his sports participation, Christian group by his religious beliefs, and high school community by his age. From one side, social identification is necessary for the development as well as normal functioning of any person. From the other side, the institutionalized social groups contribute to further division of society and diminishment of the concept of equality. Sidlow and Henschen draw the attention of the American nation to the idea of civil rights which guarantee all citizens equal treatment under the law, as supported with the Fourteenth Amendment (99). From the standpoint of democracy, all people have equal rights as well. However, the idea of equality within American society is an ideal which has not been achieved yet. Numerous groups in American society struggle today to obtain equal treatment. For example, the gay couples try to obtain legal equality in terms of marriage and adoption of children and millions of illegal immigrants strive to achieve legal status of citizens. Thus, the law does not allow discrimination against a particular group of people; however, it does not imply that equality is created. In a sense, the emergence of the independent United States is based on the history of discrimination against minorities. Sidlow and Henschen emphasize that discrimination against women, African Americans, and Native Americans dates back to the early years of the nation, the time when farmers in the South refused to give equal rights to others (99). As more and more diverse people arrived to the United States, it was necessary to bring in the issue of equality into political framework. Nevertheless, it was not enough to ensure equality on the paper; it was necessary to integrate the concept of equality into social relations. Consequently, today millions of people belonging to diverse minority groups have no opportunity to experience equality in their daily lives. It is important to mention that despite of the widespread recognition of the importance of equality and tolerance towards differences among people, the scientific and academic community started to focus on the rights of minority people only a decade or two ago. In particular, the idea of the inclusive classrooms emerged only several years ago, when the educators realized that their classrooms were composed of diverse students with different needs. It does not mean that classrooms became diverse only a decade ago. It means that the issue of equality has not been properly addressed before. Initially, it was expected that the diverse people coming to the United States would be assimilated into the mainstream culture. However, Vera and Feagin argue that today the mere idea of assimilation is no longer effective. Thus, clear distinctions are made between those who believe all people should be given a fair chance to succeed and those who believe that if people dont have equal access to res ources, measures should be take to equalize opportunity (299). Unfortunately, the equality in American nation exists mostly theoretically rather than practically. People are judged by their market value, as Americans are taught to respect the wealthy and despise the poor. The human character has less value than social and physical attributes. Moreover, Vera and Feagin suggest that very few people are willing to support proactive measure to ensure equality because it would mean loss of the privileges for the dominant groups. At the same time, many people believe that equality is the defining feature of the American society, as any person from any part of the world is able to become successful in this country. However, this view is expressed in support of the economic success rather than social equality. In addition to economic measures of success, the American people attribute significant value to individualism as opposed to collectivism. In other words, Americans tend to emphasize the importance of individuals rather than teams, groups, or community. Naylor argues that because of this particular flavor of self-reliance, the American nation can not become equal (56). For many people, equality means nothing more than equal participation in educational and educational systems, for example. Indeed, equality does not mean that all people have equal talents and are able to achieve outstanding success. Equality is not attainable in these aspects. Therefore, equality means equal access to systems and equal opportunities for all people. The global community believes that the American nation grants equal opportunities to all citizens. Nevertheless, until today no significant progress has been achieved to guarantee equal opportunities. Many initiatives have been introduced to tackle the problem of discrimination with the hope to integrate equality into American society. For example, the affirmative action was institutionalized to give minority students a better chance for admission. However, affirmative action initiative failed because of its ineffectiveness. The American society is not a nation of equals, and the removal of the political barriers to equality did not result in the removal of economic and social barriers as well. Naylor suggests that the members of the mainstream culture tend to focus on freedom, the rights of the individual, equality, achievement, and mobility (57). The members of other groups strive to become part of mainstream culture as well. The reason to seek membership in dominant culture is rather obvious for many centuries, the dominating groups have been enjoying more rights and freedoms. Today, the situation is not much different to the time when African Americans were slaves, for example. Even though slavery has been prohibited, members of minority groups do not have equal access to political, economic, and social systems. The reason for the failure to bring equality into society is not related to the weakness of political system or lack of opportunities for all. The key issue behind lack of equality is related to cultural and economic factors. For example, a teenager born to immigrant parents may not have equal opportunity to attend college compared to other students only because his parents are not able to afford education. Consequently, this teenager is not able to take advantage of equal opportunity to have well-paid job because lack of education is projected on career. In the long-run, this teenager is likely to become an adult who does not fit the mainstream group of successful, educated Whites not because of ethnic or racial differences but rather because of the social and economic barriers. In conclusion, the American nation prides itself for its principle of equality, freedoms and rights for all. Nevertheless, the reality is that equality remains nothing more than a concept addressed by the American Constitution. As the nation of immigrants, the American society includes diverse people who strive to take the fullest advantage of their individualism. To ensure equality, the government should remove not only legislative barriers to equal participation but also provide all people with an opportunity to participate in economic and social systems.

Free Speech vs The Right of Children Essay

The ethical implications of such a topic must be carefully reviewed in order to reach an overall judgement and conclusion as to whether every citizens right to express freedom of speech is an exclusive entitlement, or whether certain limitations ought to be implemented in order to safeguard the innocence of youth. This essay aims to underline that the latter must take precedent over any reckless expression of this right. William Orville Douglas once stated that â€Å"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions† (Douglas, 49). This, although, provokes ones belief that freedom of speech is a duty bestowed upon all of us to convey, it quite clearly fails to acknowledge the duty, and more importantly, the responsibility every adult has to protect the early stages of a child’s life from the evils our world presents. This paper will ultimately underline the obligations and duty each adult faces in order to protect the innocence of youth. It is surely every reasonably minded adults obligation to watch over and regulate what our children view. In such a society where information is so readily accessible and available via the outlets of the internet and television, the dangers of being exposed to the vulgarity of pornography and the severity of violent themes presented in television shows has never been more apparent. The entertainment industry thrives on the younger audiences following such 2 shows as wrestling and obtains profits at the expense of the corruption it invokes in the psyche of children. Statistics show that teenagers who regularly tune into professional wrestling shows are far more likely to be involved in violence in their adult lives (Taylor, 1). This surely is an indication that our right to express violence as an questionable privilege has insinuations that directly affect the youth of our society. Ann Mainville-Neeson aptly asserted â€Å"don’t abandon safeguards in the name of freedom of expression†. Although she was directly observing the rights of women, the same notion can be adopted in our argument confirming that freedom of speech is a privilege that must be wielded sensibly. Chomsky observed that â€Å"If you believe in freedom of speech, you believe in freedom of speech for views you don’t like† (Chomsky, 183). This statement is flawed in that it does not account for the level of morality freedom of speech invokes. The question whether freedom of speech is appropriate is undeniable. After all the right is protected under statutory law, in particular Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Brownlie, 299). The argument remains of proportionality and whether the justification of merely quoting statute is enough to qualify anyone to thoughtlessly portray images that may hinder the standing of our children in later adulthood. Interestingly, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution clearly instructs that, although the freedom of expression and speech is a fundamental right and can be enjoyed without any interference from the 3 government, the Supreme Court still recognize that such enjoyment must not summon any form of action that can cause violence or a breach of the peace. If this fact was to be correlated and run parallel with the observations made and results collaborated by the Southern Medical Journal, then one could argue that serious ramifications may be incurred and reform necessary to coincide with the law of the land. The availability and open accessibility to pornography, both soft and hardcore to children must be reviewed. Arguing that this is merely an avenue for those involved in the pornographic to articulate their freedom of speech and expression is absurd and holds little regard for repercussions that their exposure may have to young minds. Andrew Maisel stipulates that parents can control a degree of how much their own children are exposed to pornography on the internet is by banning the use of internet altogether. This concept, although harsh, offers a insight as to the desperate nature and dilemma most parents are left in. A situation leaving the parent to contemplate restricting online use for their children is a huge step backwards, yet it is often considered as an alternative. A lesser of two evils if you will. The pornography industry must take steps in order to reduce the number of people who are inadvertently subjected to explicit, and often illicit, material. Henry Waxman and Steve Largent’s report on the level of accessibility of pornography suggests that even accidental access can have detrimental effects. They cite the hypothetical example of a teenage girl innocently typing in 4 â€Å"Britney Spears† into a music video search again and retrieving a result list of which 70% of the results contained pornographic titles (Waxman, 9). The question of responsibility over undoubted financial profit comes is raised again, and unfortunately, it seems as though the industry prefers the well being of its own existence by attracting further attention to itself, to fulfilling their duty as adults and protect the children and ensure their smooth, educated transition into adulthood. However, Soraker poses a possible reason as to the uncontrollable nature of pornography on the internet. â€Å"The increasing use of frameworks within which Internet users can contribute nontextual information constitutes a serious obstacle to government attempts to accurately censor and monitor Internet traffic† (Soraker, 40). The basic notion that too many sites are available for users of all ages to file share and contribute to the problem presents us with further difficulties in tackling the fundamental issues in question. Once again we are faced with queries founded in the level of responsibility and proportional morality. Our society seems to cater far more to unconventional behaviour. So much so that such acts have entered into the mainstream of society, and what was deemed taboo a decade ago, is now part of our day to day make up. It is each and every adults responsibility to ultimately allow their children, whether it be their own or ones of their community, to benefit from a culture free from such pervertions that will eventually serve to destroy their 5 innocent attributes. The unfortunate phenomenon remains that industries operating within the media will continue to function and canvass their ideals, which will undeniably capture our youngsters attention. Profit and financial gain will remain to be an overriding factor that will drive the industry. All this with so little regard for the affect their actions will have on our children is a terrible tragedy. Surely the responsibility rest squarely upon the shoulders of the parents and other adults who have the control and voice to rise up against such barbaric exploitation. The future certainly looks bleak if our children pass on the violent and perverted tendencies portrayed in today’s media onto their own children and thus creating a snowball effect whereby the situation gets worse with every generation. The time to act is now. Freedom of speech is a right that many countries do not have the benefit of enjoying at all. We, however, seem to abuse this right. Brandish it, manipulate it and even use it as an excuse to further push the boundaries. A measure of responsibility must go hand in hand when we discuss the issue of free speech. It seems, however, that the majority of us have forgotten that aspect. WORKS CITED Douglas, William Orville, â€Å"Right of the People† Greenwood Press. 1980. 48-49 www,consumer affairs.com, â€Å"Young TV Wrestling Fans Take More Chances† Southern Medical Journal. February 2008 1-2 Chomsky, Noam. â€Å"Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky & the Media† 1993 183-185 Brownlie, Ian. â€Å"Principles of Public International Law† 5th Edition. Oxford 1998. 299-299 http://www. superkids. com/aweb/pages/features/netporn/, â€Å"Parents, Kids and Pornography on the Internet† 1-2 Waxman, Henry & Largent, Steve. â€Å"Children’s Access to Pornography Through Internet File-Sharing Programs† July 21st, 2007. 8-11 Soraker, Johnny Hartz, â€Å"The Information Socity† Penguin. 2007. 40-41

What Makes A Good Officer Or Warden - 854 Words

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Egypt And Indonesi Similarities And Differences - 1041 Words

Egypt and Indonesia Introduction: Egypt and Indonesia are two cultures that differ immensely when it comes to Family. Family is a major factor that has a great influence on how both cultures live and how they view others. Egypt and Indonesia have both similarities and differences that contribute to the aspect of Family. Families influence the decisions of individuals,the choices they make and how they choose to act. Concepts such as Gender and Power play a paramount role in how Family affects the chosen cultures. It has been discussed by many archaeologists and such that Egypt had originated around 3000 BC. Egypt is located in North Africa bordering on the Mediterranean Sea to the North with Libya, Sudan and Israel as neighbouring countries. Egypt has had a complex but stable culture that was later altered and affected by Western and nearby countries. Egypt is known for the religious festivals held there and the etiquettes and customs of Egyptians. Nepotism is present with people making it apparent that they are more wealthy or that they are prosperous. The culture of Egypt is mostly westernised as Western countries seem to have the biggest impact on all cultures. It used to only be influenced by neighbouring countries by soon started becoming westernised as it grew as a country and a nation. Indonesia however originated in 2500B.C. Indonesia is a group of islands that stretch along the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Indonesia’s culture is intertwined with past